Milling & Baking News - October 5, 2010 - 20

Industry Activities 

AIB emphasizes link between baking
education and profitability
* Offers customized training for
dozens of companies each year
* Offers production and operational
consulting support
* Has 1,000 career active graduates
in the flagship Baking Science and
Technology resident course.
Mr. O'Donnell focused on the resident course in his presentation, noting
that the average faculty member has
more than 15 years of experience in
the baking industry.
"When we give classes, we've 'been
there, done that,'" he said. "We view
ourselves as perpetual learners."
While devoting considerable time to describing how
the course has changed in recent years, Mr. O'Donnell said
the basic approach of the resident course has remained the
same since the early 20th century. Instructors talk about the
science with the students who
then move to a laboratory setting to try what they learned
and then evaluate how the
work turned out.
"It's all about learning cause
and effect," Mr. O'Donnell said.
The resident course is limited to 48 students at a time,
At a breakfast devoted to showcasing the resident Baking with the class split and taking
Science and Technology course were James Munyon, left, turns learning about baking
president and chief executive officer, AIB International, and bread and sweet goods.
Mr.
O'Donnell
spoke
Kirk O'Donnell, vice-president of education.
with pride of the school's
25,000-square-foot pilot lab and
breakfast sponsored by AIB Interna- its up-to-date complement of equiptional at the Las Vegas Convention ment. He described the AIB laboratory
resources as "off the charts" and crucial
Center.
Introducing Mr. O'Donnell, James for an effective baking education.
The 16-week course features over
Munyon, AIB president and chief executive officer, described that resident 600 hours of instruction with the typibaking course as the "jewel" in the cal day divided between four hours in
AIB portfolio, one of the few schools the classroom, four hours of hands-on
targeting wholesale manufacturing lab work and another four hours of
homework.
and featuring a top flight pilot plant.
"We keep our students busy," Mr.
"Our intent is in assuring that the
school remains an industry asset for O'Donnell said.
While the basic arc of the curriculum
many years to come in support of operational, technical leadership train- has remained unchanged for decades,
ing and organizational development Mr. O'Donnell cited a host of ways in
which the program has been updated.
needs," Mr. Munyon said.
"When I was a student 30 years ago,
He noted the staff of 15 instructors offers a blend of current science we were told to 'sit and learn, sit and
with practical educational experience. learn,' for hours at a time," he said. "It's
Overall, he noted that the School of a very different learning environment
today. People want to multi-task to be
Baking:
* Offers more than 40 courses per engaged. We advise our staff to move
to new topics every seven minutes."
year
Another example that the school has
* Trains over 4,000 students per year
LAS VEGAS - A renewed commitment to education will be pivotal to improving and sustaining baking industry profitability, said Kirk O'Donnell,
vice-president of education, AIB International, Manhattan, Kas.
Noting that U.S. enrollment in the
Baking Science and Technology 16week course at AIB has declined steadily since the late 1990s, Mr. O'Donnell
said that revitalization of serious baking education is crucial for wholesale
baking to refill a depleting pipeline of
knowledge and skill in the industry.
Mr. O'Donnell spoke Sept. 27 at a

20 / October 5, 2010 Milling & Baking News

found useful are handheld electronic devices provided to each student. Instructors conduct instant student polling and
quizzing to help determine what the
class understands and what they don't.
Ancillary teaching introduced in recent years helps students learn about
important workplace issues such as
conflict resolution, stress management, new product development, lean
manufacturing, bakery layout, project
management and coaching.
Mr. O'Donnell offered an impassioned plea for increased U.S. baking
industry utilization of the resident
program, noting that it was created for
them. He said that for the AIB the program has held up well overall because
the decline in students from the United
States has been offset by increases in international attendance with particular
strength in Japan and South Korea.
"I'm concerned about the trend for
the baking industry," Mr. O'Donnell

School of Baking
highlights:
 Offers more than 40 courses per
year
 Trains over 4,000 students per year
 Offers customized training for dozens of companies each year
 Offers production and operational
consulting support
 Has 1,000 career active graduates
in the flagship Baking Science and
Technology resident course.
said. "It's short sighted. Investment
and training lead to improvements in
efficiency and profitability. We live in
an age when too many baking companies are preoccupied with the urgent
rather than addressing the important."
Mr. O'Donnell estimated that for
each $1 invested in the B.S.T. resident
course, a company may receive $20 in
additional returns. For example, he
said an AIB graduate ought to be able
to reduce production waste by half
and, with his or her troubleshooting
skills, downtime by 25%.
He said nearly 25% of graduates
end up in executive leadership positions in the industry.
"The resident course truly should
be viewed as leadership development
training," he said. MBN
bakingbusiness.com / world-grain.com

http://www.bakingbusiness.com http://www.world-grain.com

Milling & Baking News - October 5, 2010

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